Judges Back Trump Gag Order

Donald Trump's appeal of a gag order in his federal election interference trial mostly was rejected Friday, though an appeals court's tweak will allow the former president to carry on with his attacks against special counsel Jack Smith. The 68-page ruling by a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals agrees with the reasoning of Judge Tanya Chutkan, who imposed the order, that some of Trump's rhetoric poses "a significant and imminent threat to the functioning of the criminal trial process," the Hill reports. But it found her restrictions on Trump's speech too broad.

The judges said Trump can attack people involved in the 2020 election and its aftermath, per Politico, provided he doesn't address their potential testimony in his trial. They took Smith off a list of court staff members protected from Trump's accusations. The panel backed Chutkan in saying the rhetoric can be behind the "torrent of threats and intimidation" by Trump's followers that participants in the proceeding have faced, pointing out that his lawyers were not able to show this is not the case. The fact that Trump is a presidential candidate does not overrule the need to protect the integrity of the trial, the panel found. He can appeal Friday's ruling to the full DC Circuit or to the Supreme Court. (More Donald Trump stories.)